News
Congratulations to Professor Chris Fink on his new book, *Farmer's Almanac*! Farmer’s Almanac will be released on Tuesday, March 12 by Emergency Press. A book launch is scheduled for Friday, April 26 at Boswell Book Company, 2559 N. Downer Ave., in Milwaukee.
Described as more Orwell than Rockwell, the rural stories take place in two small towns in the mythical Odette County, Wis. Like Winesburg, Ohio and The Things They Carried, the stories in Farmer’s Almanac are linked by similar locales and reappearing characters. Since it is in between a novel and a story collection, the genre is dubbed a work of fiction.
“These stories are regional with working-class themes. I consider this my subject. These are my people,” Fink says. “I think it will be of interest to people who have roots in the Midwest.”
Next up, Fink is working on another collection of short stories as well as a novel.
Fran Abbate's latest book, Troy, Unincorporated, is now out with the University of Chicago Press. Troy, Unincorporated is a poetic retelling of Chaucer'sTroilus and Criseyde set in Southeastern Wisconsin. It was also a semifinalist for the 2010 Walt Whitman Award and a finalist for the Four Way Books Intro Prize.
The English Department is very pleased to welcome the poet Kevin Young as our new Mackey Chair for the spring of 2013! Check out a recent New York Times review of his new book, The Grey Album.